Patriots vs Eagles: Preseason Aftermath

DEFENSIVE LINE
Jermaine Cunningham started at left end and was used as a rusher out of a two-point stance at one point. The rest of the starting defensive line was Ron Brace (LDT), Kyle Love (RDT), and Chandler Jones (RE). On the game’s second series, Cunningham and Jones rushed from two-point stances and along with DT Kyle Love were able to put pressure on Michael Vick; Cunningham hit Vick as he threw the ball and the Eagles quarterback appeared to injure his ribs. Rookie Nick Foles (third round) replaced Vick and was called for a false start on his first snap; Vick headed to the locker room. Cunningham recorded another quarterback hit on Nick Foles following a pressure by Ron Brace, who hit Nick Foles on the next play. Brace’s surprisingly disruptive play could give him the edge over the other defensive tackles competing for roster spots. Trevor Scott rotated in at left end early in the second quarter and was rushing effectively. Jake Bequette nearly sacked Nick Foles with just under three minutes remaining in the first half; later Bequette was flagged for a roughing the passer penalty. Tim Bulman saw some reps at defensive tackle in the fourth quarter.

LINEBACKERS
In the starting 4-3 defense, the Patriots went with Bobby Carpenter at WLB, Brandon Spikes at MLB, and Dont’a Hightower at SLB. Jerod Mayo was inactive. Spikes made a number of big hits in the opening minutes of the game. Bobby Carpenter diagnosed a screen pass and blew up the play with a big hit, forcing a fumble which was recovered by a touchdown by Trevor Scott; the play was later overturned. New England’s second-team linebackers had trouble covering Philadelphia’s multiple tight ends; Rivera allowed a completion to Celek and a touchdown to Clay Harbor on the next play. Later, Rivera lost track of the ball; at this point he appears unlikely to make the final roster. Jeff Tarpinian seemed to struggle in coverage as well. On the bright side, Niko Koutouvides looked adequate in his drops and made a tackle for loss in the run game.

DEFENSIVE BACKS
Sterling Moore was lined up at left cornerback with the first team. Ras-I Dowling started at right cornerback and was not targeted often during the game. The starting safeties were Steve Gregory and Patrick Chung. Marquice Cole got some snaps in the slot and gave up a big gain on his first target. Patrick Chung was shaken up on the second drive and replaced by Will Allen, who nearly intercepted a pass intended for DeSean Jackson in the second quarter. Clay Harbor caught a touchdown pass on a blown coverage by Nate Ebner. The rookie safety later intercepted a Nick Foles pass attempt before halftime. Sterling Moore got beat deep by DeSean Jackson in the third quarter.

SPECIAL TEAMS
Donte’ Stallworth was back deep to return the opening kick of the game; Julian Edelman was the first-team punt returner. Marquice Cole was active and made a nice play as a gunner on the opening punt. He was lined up as a jammer in the punt game as well. Stephen Gostkowski nailed a 53-yard field goal in the first quarter. Brandon Bolden muffed a punt which the Eagles recovered in the second quarter.

Up Up
-this website continues to thrash the globe and herald in terms of depth. It’s impressive and your passion shows.

-the Jets are almost as big a mess as the red sox and the dolphins look closer to 1-15 than a quick turnaround. this isn’t the late 90s where you have the parcells jets and parcells pats, manning colts throttling the remains of the kelly bills and marino dolphins. 2 shanked punts from the jets punter.

Down
-The offensive line didn’t give us much and was beaten routinely. The plus side is that unlike the jets, it’s not the best the team has.

-Hoyer- that was the effort you expect from a d3 qb in garbage time in game 1 of preseason who a year before was playing wisconsin whitewater, not your backup qb.

-Mike Rivera-he was abused badly on one of the touchdown drives and on several other occasions. This reminded me of the 2009 colts game when the linebackers were just torched.

-Sterling Moore, torched down the field. couldn’t strip on the bomb.

-dante stallworth, at his age, against that competition, you’re supposed to put on a show, not get had.

Up
-Ryan Mallett, he looked like what he was supposed to be. I would take him over the starting qbs in the rest of the division.

-Brandon Bolden, I know he muffed the punt, but he hung in there, ran well, had a great special teams tackle on a punt and I thought played well after that.

-Branch, Cunningham, Brace-3 faces that I thought played well. The latter 2 are key because if they can swing it around they could give the team young, hungry talent.

-the organization-once again there are going to be 8-10 guys cut who end up on other teams in key roles. there aren’t going to be a lot of 2nd round picks still on their first contract cut this year, a la brandon tate/wheatley et al. The drafting has gotten better.

-the starting defense played well I thought. I love how spikes hits and gregory looks ok.

Neither here nor there
-Didn’t see a lot of ras-I dowling even though he played a lot
-chung needs to stay on the field
-bequette was trying hard, hopefully the start
-watch the to cowboys version of hard knocks, they really thought bobby carpenter sucked. he played well, we’ll see if it lasts.
-trevor scott was really in there and did well.
-loved tirico’s attitude, gruden informed us he applied for mcdaniels job.

I did not realize Michigan State was a D3 school; guess that’s what playing Michigan, Ohio St, Wisconsin, Penn St & Minnesota gets you. I remember visiting a school that looked just like it with a 90,000+ seat stadium and 3 post offices.

I think the observation about Ras-I is a little bit misleading. They didn’t throw his way at all which means he was covering pretty well. If a corners name comes up a lot in a game that either means he is doing really well or doing really bad.